It could be said that Marvel is trying to appease the Ben Reilly fans by shoving Kaine into that role, but the thing is, they kept just enough of Kaine's personality to really make this work well. I'm enjoying the book right now, even though the latest issues are feeling more and more like filler until Minimum Carnage. I'm hoping the book picks back up at that point...

Plus he's always quite stubbly and with his general attitude and stuff, there's no danger for mistaking him for Pete. He looks like a relative, but not identical, thankfully. Also, he recently got a tattoo on his left shoulder.

That's obvious. I wasn't stating that you SHOULDN'T have to pay for them. I stopped downloading comicbooks years ago (after a conversation with Dan actually) because I didn't want to own comics I didn't pay for. That's not my complaint. I'm happy with paying for my comics. I just don't like being "told" to buy a comic that I question from a company who overprices and overships their product just to see if my questions were justified or not. That costs too much if it ends up that I was right all along.

And again, that's just a general statement, not directed at this one specific scenerio with Dan and Dangerman.

Again, I agree. It's not the buying that bothers me but the "being told" to buy that bothers me. Officials can get annoyed and tell people to "give a book a chance" or "read it first then complain" but they aren't the ones being overcharged for the hobby they enjoy. All those sorts of statements do is line their pockets without any care whether the reader liked what they bought or not.

And while it's easier to see if you might like a book now than in years past you won't really know until the book comes out. Heck, I thought I'd LOVE AvX but it's turning out to be one of the crappiest stories I've read in 21 years. There's no guarentee.

I agree actually and I've been desparately trying to drop comics. I can't. 21 years worth of buying and caring for the characters on the page keeps me buying. I'm very burnt out on the people behind the scenes (not necessarilly writers or artists as much as the decision makers above them) but I love the characters. I despise the idea of not reading the X-Men. I've followed them and their extended family for two decades straight. I've "known" them longer than I've known my wife, my kids, half my siblings, or any of my friends. Comicbook characters, and X-Men specifically, has been the one constant in my life since I was 10 years old and while I hate how Marvel runs their business, I still love the characters. I WANT to know what's going on with them, I WANT to read their comics. I DON'T want to read what the current Marvel is doing to them. They've already destroyed Spider-Man (at least, the Spider-Man that I grew up loving). I don't want to see them continue to do that with the rest of these characters.

I don't complain out of hate. I complain out of love. I love these characters and modern Marvel just stomps on them and makes them a joke. Death should matter. Marriages should matter. Characters should matter. Progression should matter. Stories and status quos and history should matter. I don't feel like the higher ups of Marvel care about those things as much as previous generations. They just want the next quick cash grab and when that's over work toward the next quick cash grab. Shock, Relaunch, Renumber, Reluanch, Event, Death, Return, Death, Return. The characters and the history that brought them to this point (on the page and those behind it) deserve better than that.

That is to say, I've at least made steps. I've dropped over half of my Marvel buying (though they made it back up with their double shipping nonsense). Even with that I've managed to drop from $130-$150/month to around $60-$90/month and I'm still trying to get that down. Post-AvX will be a big factor in that I think.

And I don't complain consistently. I praise books that deserve praise, such as W&tXM and Uncanny X-Force. As a newer reader, I think DC is doing a fantastic job with their New 52 reboot. I think the indy book Stuff of Legend is phenominal. I praise artists and writers who do a good job. It's just Marvel as a whole who frustrate me to the point of rediculousness.

Believe it or not I'm a very pleasant, positive person in everything save Marvel Comics. You guys wouldn't know that because that's all you see, but it's very sad that I can see how crappy I've become these past few years. I don't like it. I honestly wish I could just walk away from comics but I just can't.

Man, you started reading comics when they really first began to suck! That was just when Marvel started with the massive crossovers that entailed having to buy every comic book they published to get the full story. You did manage to get in a few years before Fat Joe came in and really botched things up but you might want to consider doing what I getting ready to embark on.

I've collected for 38 years. I am a true Stan, Steve, Jack, Roy, Gerry, Marv, Len, Colan, Cane, Romita, Andru, Buscema (both) era guy. I'm going back with the help of trades and a listing of every Marvel comic published by the month and starting with 11/61 (first FF) am going to read all of the monthlies from then up thru around 1989/1990 (minus the Westerns/Romance). That's about 30 years worth and a lot better quality than the crap they;re putting out today. This was a time when there was actually continuity in comics and series ran for hundreds off issues without needing a reboot every couple of years because the writing was tight and cohesive. I plan to start a thread when I begin down this road thru Marvel comic history (hopefully in January 2013). I will invite anyone who is sick of the current state of comics to join me. As someone said earlier in the thread, it seems like Marvel is saying if you're 50 you're too old for Spider-Man. I'm not quite 50, but maybe I am too old for the Spider-Man they pass off today.

As for ASM 692:

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

The whole origin is terribly rushed. What Stan and Steve did in 1-2 pages in Amazing Fantasy 15 has much better flow than what this one does in twice as many pages.

Pete is excited about the experiment (unveiling this untried new tech with a bunch of high schoolers around).

The experiment IMMEDIATELY goes haywire. Pete IMEDIATELY realizes that he was only showing off to show all the Flash Thompsons of the world that he is somebody now.

New kid gets hit with the Parker Particles and IMMEDIATELY displays super powers in front of everyone (no secret identity for this guy)

Reed tells Pete he actually invented Parker Particles years before but he realized the potential for the abiuse of the infinite power that culd come with them and so chose not to unveil them (making Pete look like an idiot and NOT very adult-like at all)

Peter doesn't figure out he needs to be the custodian of this kid. Reed TELLS HIM he should be.

The kid goes to school and begins to abuse his own personal Flash Thompson and pick up the girl he was mooning over. And by the way, this kid isn;t a smart, generally good kid like Pete was. He is lazy and shiftless, no ambition, very apathetic about everything. Not a very likeable person IMO. He seems more like a potential future villain to me than anyone with potential to be a hero. I guess we'll see what happens.

Side note, I actually enjoyed the recent Lizard/Morbius arc better than anything I've read in ASM for a good while. Maybe Slott will manage to restore some dignity and cohesiveness to the Spidey myth as long as long as the editorial staff doesn't hamstring him too badly! I guess we'll see about that as well!

something my mate pointed out to me an if he's right this whole alpha being so powerful if a bit daft

if alpha is so powerful wouldn't franklin richards be considered an alpha, but in the past alpha has been levelled below omega, franklin, jean and vulcan are considered omega, where as people like scarlet witch and prof x are considered alphas

now you would say this only apply's to mutants, but they already mentioned that alpha is compared to phoenix.

i wasn't keen on the story until the jackel showed up(the art really made him seem gremlin like) but something like this does seem a bit out of sorts of alpha is such a big threat

__________________And so I walk, into the searing light which banishes all darkness, surrendering my face and form to atoms of dust, seeking the true darkness of peace,the cool shadows of eternity and the unknown fate of nothingnessTo view my sitetumblrdev arttwitter

When Reed was explaining to Peter the Alpha and Omega classes, he was talking about threat levels, not mutant power classifications.

Aside from that, Franklin is still listed as an Omega level mutant but I hear from full time FF readers that it's debatable because every writer has his own idea of what his capabilities are at this age.

__________________

Quote:

Originally Posted by C. Lee

This is a message board...no one killed your mother or had sex with your dog.....try to move on in life.

This is the last straw for me in regards to Marvel's stupidity. I have been a faithful Spidey collector thru all these years, stuck with him thru the last 10 years of crappy stories and now just when they're starting to get just a little bit better, they end the series for some short-term gimmick called Marvel NOW. Worst thing is when they see what a disaster this is, they'll retcon whatever ridiculous thing they contrive for the NOW setries and then retroactively pick up the original numbering and change the title back to ASM.

I was reading about this on CBR this afternoon. I don't really know why people are so surprised about it considering it was pretty evident that the book was going to be renumbered, or renamed, after 700.

I'm more irked at the continuing money grubbing by Marvel. In December we get # 699 at 3.99 and then they are doing a 699.1 for 2.99 and then you follow that up with 700 which is coming in at a whopping 7.99. So, if you want to find out what happens through the books you have to spend 15 dollars. Lets also factor in that December is also this pesky little holiday called Christmas that people are going to be spending money on gifts and what not. Way to go, Marvel, way to go.

I'll probably be ending my Spider-Man subscription and that will be with issue # 700. I cannot take Marvel's ridiculous over shipping, over pricing, and .1 nonsense. It's just too much. I'll be sticking with Daredevil, Scarlet Spider, and Ultimate Spider-Man. However, I see that Scarlet Spider gets a .1 in December as well which is not sitting well with me.

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If you're into industrial metal or hard rock, or if you're looking for some new music to listen to. Check out a new band called GlitchPoint.

This is the last straw for me in regards to Marvel's stupidity. I have been a faithful Spidey collector thru all these years, stuck with him thru the last 10 years of crappy stories and now just when they're starting to get just a little bit better, they end the series for some short-term gimmick called Marvel NOW. Worst thing is when they see what a disaster this is, they'll retcon whatever ridiculous thing they contrive for the NOW setries and then retroactively pick up the original numbering and change the title back to ASM.

*%&# u, marvel. I'm done. Nothing but back issues for me now.

I got back into comics shortly before Civil War and was loving how things were playing out. I loved that by unmasking they opened up Pandora's box on new ideas for the character. After I saw what they started with Brand New Day though I realized things hadn't changed at all, and that all the money an emotions I've invested in these characters means nothing if they're just going to pretend nothing happen and start from scratch. I know that's all the DC and Marvel do anymore but when you had a great chance to shake things up with new ideas, but instead you revert back to the same old ideas that were stale years ago.

I was reading about this on CBR this afternoon. I don't really know why people are so surprised about it considering it was pretty evident that the book was going to be renumbered, or renamed, after 700.

I'm more irked at the continuing money grubbing by Marvel. In December we get # 699 at 3.99 and then they are doing a 699.1 for 2.99 and then you follow that up with 700 which is coming in at a whopping 7.99. So, if you want to find out what happens through the books you have to spend 15 dollars. Lets also factor in that December is also this pesky little holiday called Christmas that people are going to be spending money on gifts and what not. Way to go, Marvel, way to go.

I'll probably be ending my Spider-Man subscription and that will be with issue # 700. I cannot take Marvel's ridiculous over shipping, over pricing, and .1 nonsense. It's just too much. I'll be sticking with Daredevil, Scarlet Spider, and Ultimate Spider-Man. However, I see that Scarlet Spider gets a .1 in December as well which is not sitting well with me.

They are justifying the price (7.99) on that fact that the comic (TASM 700) is going to be 104 pages long.

I got back into comics shortly before Civil War and was loving how things were playing out. I loved that by unmasking they opened up Pandora's box on new ideas for the character. After I saw what they started with Brand New Day though I realized things hadn't changed at all, and that all the money an emotions I've invested in these characters means nothing if they're just going to pretend nothing happen and start from scratch. I know that's all the DC and Marvel do anymore but when you had a great chance to shake things up with new ideas, but instead you revert back to the same old ideas that were stale years ago.

BND did not "pretend that nothing happened"... it was a continuation of BnB... 3 months later... Spidey laid low due to Civil War... and everything that had happened before, aside from a marriage, still happened.

Sheesh...

__________________Alea Jacta Est

"It's disturbing when young people believe right-wing political hype. It's like rock n' roll never happened."